Event EZbus digital mixer not booting , LCD message says: "becoming EZbus..."

Lots of goodies inside like USB interface, Word Clock, SPDIF, MMC, all needing a fair amount of CPU control. My guess is the CPU is not completing its POST for some unknown reason. Maybe there is a way to physically reset the CPU like on a laptop where you're given a pinhole to do this. Or a battery that can be removed to clear the CMOS.

showing

buttons

not

No battery or F-cap found unless on the analogue board. Start up is the same as that other one , I'd not noticed the 2 LEDs flashing on for 1 second.

Changed 3 , 0.47uF caps of ESR 25 to 30R but system still hangs. Beyond checking oscillation around each of the 3 crystals its then a matter of seeing if there are data sheets for the main chips

I've downloaded the datasheets for the controller, Cypress AN2131QC, and

24 Bit Audio DIgital Signal Processor, Motorola XCB56362PV100 if anyone happens to be familiar with them, but I won't be fiddling until Monday

Neither are the main logic control for the EZBus.

so another download for the CPLD XC95144XL, nowhere near any crystal leaving converter CS8420 and flash mem AT29C256 of the big chips

THE CPLD XC9500 family.

Seems to me if used with another FPGA or ASIC it would do the job.

You're not going to find something like an Intel Pentium chip inside :-)

EZbus FAQ's file is no longer on their site, but still on

/EZbus_FAQs.htm#8 no mention of reset

I did try powering up pressing System + Audio (the LED flash up pair) while powering up , but no change But I will try Play+Record mentioned as another make of digital mixer reset before delving more into the hardware. Any other button combination suggestions, nothing for EZbus found out there.

As nearly fully separated 3 lines of 28 control buttons I will try the small subset of 378 combinations of adjascent pairs and the subset of adjascent triplets of 3276, 3 button press combinations at power up, unfortunately having to leave 10 seconds in between as longish 5s or so power-down/clear.

Then monitor the 3 clock lines to the CPLD and then try forcing the GSR (Global Set Reset) pin

This other person's experience

"When connected to a PC computer via USB, the computer recognizes that a USB device is found but cannot install it because it does not recognize what it is. I went to the Event support site and downloaded the EZbusInstaller, Firmware, ASIO update and XP update. Followed instructions to install the Installer and that seemed to work, but when I try to run the Firmware it does not recognize the unit and gets and error message that says no EZbus connected. The Firmware instructions say that in order to run the file, the unit has to be set so that the display is at the USB setting, by pressing the System button and then the Next button several times. But it won't pass the message that shows "becoming EZbus..." "

suggests that and this is a "pre-POST" problem but there is some variation in LEDs lit on some button press combinations at power up , sometimes the MIX LED lights on one pair of button presses , rather than the System+Audio LEDs, as normal. Does this suggest a post-POST problem?

unlike from the EZbus FAQ having presumably gone past that and then hanging at a blank screen but is initialising the USB function there. " symptom: I tried to update my EZbus firmware and, and now my EZbus LCD blank. so;ution: If for some reason the firmware updating process in interrupted (e.g., the USB cable is accidentally removed, or you have a power failure), the EZbus will not have the complete set of operating system instructions it needs to function properly. The most obvious symptom of this condition is the blank LCD.

1) If you are using the latest EZbus driver, you simply need to double-click on the firmware updater to reload the firmware into the EZbus. Note that you may have to do this several times, power-cycling the EZbus in-between each attempt, before the firmware will be successfully loaded. This is normal, and is not an indication of any additional problem. 2) If you are not using the latest EZbus driver, download the zipped file (below) for your operating system (Win XP or ME) to your computer's desktop, or a folder of your choosing

WinXP Firmware zip: WinME Firmware zip:

3) Unzip the file, again to either your desktop or a folder of your choosing. 4) Navigate to your computer's Device Manager and highlight USB Device. Now go to Properties and click on Update Driver. Point the Update Wizard to the desktop or to the folder into which you downloaded and unzipped the files. At this point, Windows will reinstall the file EZbus.inf, which will allow you to refresh the firmware, as in Step 1, above. 5) Once the EZbus.inf file has been installed, the listing within Device Manager will now read EZbus-Needs Firmware Refresh, rather than USB Device. At this point, follow the procedures outline in Step 1, above, until the EZbus operating system is restored. "

Would it be worth trying to download firmware code and trying a USB link up? going by the other person's experience, no point

2 and 3 button power-ups produced nothing. About 10MHz on the 3 CPLD clocks and GSR goes high briefly about 3 seconds in then stays low. Whereto next ? not graveyard / mule paddock surely

So you're thinking the firmware flash will cure the boot problem?

Email Event and ask them if they know of anyone who might have more information?

clocks

?

Well I've sent the following but I somehow doubt anything useful in reply

Event Ezbus, fails to boot Just the message "Becoming Ezbus..." and nothing else, no response to anything. I'm an electronic engineer so if an internal physical reset is all that is required, no problem. I Have tried all easy 2 and 3 button push "factory reset" at power-up combinations.

Deosn't hurt to try especially if you're at a dead end.

next

all

worse than that techsupportATevent1.com just bounces emails with cryptic messages. I used 2 totally different accounts

Maybe they just changed their address, found this on the web:

they also have a different email on their support page.

Mikel

CPLD

Whereto

reply

I'd found a small number of references to techsupport in front of the @ on that varriant , and will try that

CPLD

Whereto

reply

reply for what its worth

"We no longer support the EZbus, everything I have is at this link:

"

named contact

I had monitored the wrong pins before, for the CPLD / TQ100 pinning CLK1 is 22.58125MHz CLK2 is 23.99700 MHz CLK3 is logic low so something else to explore, if CLK3 is absolutely necessary for CPLD function

clocks presumably related sum and diff fashion with the crystals 22.579200 and 24.57600 the CLK3 seems to come from the USB chip with a 12MHz crystal associated with it, will have to explore the Cypress datasheet

N_Cook said..

So no luck on the reset? It has stored config somewhere right? If so it has to have some way of resetting a config then.

I'd still go with a flash but I would be hesitant to do that without resetting first (if possible). I've found most resets codes are unpublished. Try to find out who the service agents were for them as well.

Two more things about the firmware. If it does allow USB boot recovery (e.g. the firmware fails at some point in post) it is either going to fix the problem 100% or due to an underlined hardware problem do nothing. Hopefully if its truly a proper boot recovery it works before the code interfaces to the hardware.

I think either way software or a hardware hang flashing it will not make you worse off if its your only option.